Four female elephants live in the Dallas Zoo'sÂ Giants of the SavannaÂ habitat, the eventual home for five elephants imported from Swaziland. (File Photo/Staff)

The animal-rights group that tried to stop the Dallas Zoo and two others from importing elephants from Swaziland has filed notice voluntarily dismissing its lawsuit.

The three-page notice from Friends of Animals was filed Tuesday and comes a week after the Dallas Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan., and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Nebraska moved to have the suit dismissed, claiming it was "moot."

Friends of Animals sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February challenging a decision in January to issue a permit that allowed the zoos to bring the animals from drought-stricken Swaziland. The wildlife agency also filed a motion to dismiss the suit last month.

"It is hard to see how a court process can help these 17 elephants at this point," said Michael Harris, the director of the Friends of Animals wildlife law program. " We are investing our time and resources instead in working with our experts on a plan to better inform the public and zoo patrons about the lives these animals will now have to live, and on formulating a strategy to prevent any future proposals to import wild elephants to zoos."

Dallas Zoo president and CEO Gregg Hudson said the zoo was "pleased" Friends of Animals dropped the lawsuit.

"Their only intention was to delay the rescue, which is evident from their request to dismiss it now that the animals are here and thriving in their safe new homes," Hudson said in an emailed statement. "We've known all along that the move was not only legal, but also was the right thing to do for these elephants. Our community supports us strongly on this issue, knowing that our actions have been open, aboveboard and coordinated with the governments of two countries."

The zoos have had a legal permit to import up to 18 elephants since Jan. 20, but Friends of Animals has said the zoos made an underhanded move to ship the elephants off before the case had been settled.

One of the elephants died of a gastrointestinal issue in December, escalating the urgency to import the animals.

"We just knew that when that happened, we wanted to get these animals here as quickly as we could and under our care," Hudson said.

The 17 remaining elephants were loaded onto a plane in Swaziland and arrived in the U.S. on March 11. Five of the elephants were driven under armed escort from Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport to the Dallas Zoo. The rest went to the other two zoos.

Last week, Friends of Animals said it planned to continue the case to prevent a transfer from happening again or to force the zoos to "send these elephants home if a safe place for them can be found in the wild."

The Dallas Zoo's five new elephants remain in routine quarantine and are expected to clear the month-long process in the next two weeks, zoo spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.

Then the zoo will begin the process of integrating the elephants with the four female elephants that inhabit the Giants of the Savanna, she said.